A Heart's Debt
by The Omni-Trinity
Summary: "Chief Lionheart, do you know who she was?"..."Who Cadet?"..."The vixen, the one who saved me during the riot, who was she? Where did she come from?"... "I'm sorry Cadet, but we combed through every inch of security footage, there was no vixen there Cadet..." A Zootopian Rule63 AU.
1. Chapter 1

**ZOOTOPIA IS PROPERTY OF DISNEY**

 **Cover Artwork was NOT made by me. To anyone who knows the author, please let me know so I can give them due credit.**

On the day Judas Hopps boarded a train bound for the mammal metropolis of Zootopia, ready to begin his lifelong ambition of law enforcement, he made his mother a promise.

One that involved unearthing a grim memory of kithood Judas was always keen to tuck away far into the recesses of his mind. When he was no more than ten years old, playing a game of cops and robbers with his younger siblings, Judas jumped into a nearby river to save a drowning brother. He was successful in dragging the brother back to shore, but the effort had fatigued him too much to fight against the current any longer.

When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself lying in bed and cocooned in several thick blankets in a hospital room. Sitting by the bedside, his grief stricken mother had remained by his side the entire night, lovingly holding his paw and humming a generations old Hopps family song. A song that spoke of strong spirit, purity of heart, and the hope of divine guidance.

The promise to his mother, was that the day would never come when she would ever have to hum that song to him again.

Too bad neither of them had accounted for a facility wide riot in the deadliest supermax prison Zootopia had to offer.

The window of a prison guard outpost shattered in a spectacular fashion as an orange jumpsuit wearing zebra came crashing through. Staring dumbstruck at the fallen prisoner, a group of five prisoners, some canines, a bear, a skunk, and even a kangaroo, all turned nervously to find a small mammal waiting patiently for their attention. The rabbit officer cracked his neck, flexed his fingers, and drew himself into a combat stance.

"Bring it," he said with determination.

A deranged coyote took the challenge. The criminal charged full tilt toward the puny rabbit, eyes wild and lips pulled back with the smile of a lunatic. Charging ahead, Judas easily dodged the coyote's swings by sliding smoothly along the floor, between the coyote's legs, and rabbit kicking him square in the middle of the spine. Sending the confused coyote flailing to the floor with an agonized yelp.

Judas had hardly landed back on the floor when he had to quickly jump away from the brown bear slamming both paws down upon him. As Judas engaged his next opponent, all around him the central hall of the prison was becoming an ocean of insanity. No one knew how it started, some sort of scuffle with a guard perhaps, but the trick had worked. An entire wing of the facility was free.

The guards had seconds to spare to lock down the entrances before anyone could escape into the city. Hardly fifteen minutes later, the elite, tactical teams of the ZPD had arrived to contain the situation. It was nothing special, a textbook "clean house" scenario. But something was wrong, the prisoners had expected them. Now, Lieutenant Judas Hopps, an officer of five years, found himself cut off from his group, weaponless, and engaging mammals magnitudes larger his size in direct face to face combat.

Despite the odds, he had this brawl in the bag.

So the prisoners decided to be cowards.

They came at him as a group of six, arms laden with prison bed sheets. They overcrowded the rabbit, smothered him with the sheets, and began to pound him mercilessly. Anticipating their motives, Judas did his best to squirm and roll around under the blankets to avoid most of the bone crushing blows. It seemed to work, he was _mostly_ certain he had one good eye left.

The world shifted into a daze, everything was turning numb. He hardly noticed when the sheets were removed and he was lifted into the air upside down by his feet to come face level with one ugly maw of a walrus. Somewhere in his now mushy brain, Judas deduced the walrus was perhaps a ringleader of a sort. Judging by the growing, orange circle of sinisterly gleeful prisoners around them, who all shouted and hollered jubilantly at something the walrus said to the brain numb rabbit.

Not knowing what was said, Judas decided to raise his fist….

…push it closer to the walrus's face…

….and flick him on the nose.

Now it was Judas's turn to crash into a guard outpost window. Falling down onto the floor, Judas painfully opened one eye to find the walrus hovering over him. As the large mammal raised his leg to end the rabbit with a stomp, Judas closed his eyes and thought of the one thing his heart feared the most at that moment in time.

 _Sorry I disappointed you mom, I tried so hard not to break another one…_

It all happened so fast. From above, there was a holler of victory, then one of pain, followed by a sudden crushing feeling that enveloped his entire body.

 _So that's it I'm dead…..I've been killed by a criminal, now I'm dead_

…..

 _So why the hell am I bouncing?_

"Hey, wake up!"

 _What?_

"Come on, wake up you stupid rabbit!"

Judas was confused. The voice didn't sound anything like the walrus did, the voice sounded intelligent, elegant, and so much more pleasant to the ear. He must have a concussion forming, the voice sounded like a woman….

"Hey, stay with me! Focus now!"

Judas opened his eye to find a sight most peculiar. He was staring straight into the face of an gorgeous orange and crème furred fox. A fox, he now realized, was carrying him in her arms down the hall as fast as she could. He didn't know who she was, what she was doing there, or where she was taking him, but he couldn't see any prisoners following behind. But more worryingly, he couldn't see any of his fellow officers either.

"Who…?" he began to say but was promptly cut off.

"No talking. Talking uses blood, which anyone can clearly see you don't have much of anymore." She snapped.

 _Huh, that's why I'm so cold…_

With his head flopping to the side, Judas could now make out his rescuer with improved clarity. She was dressed in a sky blue tank top, wearing a pearl bead necklace, and possessed eyes greener than any forest in the whole of the Tri-Burrows.

The strange vixen must have arrived at her destination, for she drew to a halt and lowered the rabbit onto some kind of table before vanishing out of sight. In the time of a few heartbeats, the vixen reappeared and was rummaging through a box, mumbling angrily about something so quietly even he couldn't make out her words.

For several minutes, Judas slipped in and out of consciousness as the vixen did her best to patch him up. Wherever they were, the rioting must not have been too far away, for it sounded like there was arguing nearby. Eventually, the vixen completed her task and settled close to the rabbit, taking one of his paws tightly into one of her own, and delicately stroking his ears back behind his head with the other.

"Hang in there Cottontail, your pals in blue are coming for you." she said gently.

It took every ounce of strength he had to face her. "Wha's…or…ame?" he mumbled, now far too exhausted to speak properly.

There was a pause. He wasn't completely sure, but it seemed the vixen grimaced a moment before giving him a soft smile.

"Nicole…Nicole Wilde." She said softly.

The rabbit closed his eyes once more, everything was so cold now…

 _Nicole…what a nice name…_

Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: To make things clear, the proper label for this story should be treated as "Partial rule 63" as some characters are alternate gender counterparts while some are not.**

"Dr. Grizzolton, Dr. Grizzolton, please report to ICU Wing 29A"

After spending several days of laying motionless in a noisy hospital recovery ward, it seemed fitting Judas would awaken to the sound of the most dreary receptionist on the planet. At first there was no movement, then there was an ear twitch, and then another; then came a third one, which led to a rhythm of gentle ear twitching that was in time with the steady beeping of the heart monitor.

With a low groan and a slow breath, Judas opened his dreary eyes to gaze upon a grayish, green colored ceiling. Gently rotating his head to the side, he could groggily make out the piles of flowers and 'Get Well' cards that were overflowing on top of a small desk under an open window. Turning to the other side, he could see the door to his room was open where a corridor filled with nurses, doctors and patients in gowns could be seen. The most distinct detail he could see, was the massive tiger dressed in a blue uniform sitting in a chair outside his room.

"F-f…Fuh…Fang?" he murmured.

His voice was weak and very wheezy, but he managed to speak loud enough to catch the tiger's attention.

"Hopps, you're awake!" the tiger exclaimed, voice full of relief.

Judas blinked hard to clear his vision. "Fangmeyer? Is that you?" he said weakly.

Drawing closer, Fangmeyer lowered himself to one knee next to the bed.

"It's me buddy, steady now, you've been out for nearly a week," he said worriedly.

"Week? Carrots sticks, the hell happened?" Judas moaned.

"You got your ass beaten, that's what happened." The tiger said with a chuckle.

"Ooooohhhh, don't I know it, how badly?"

"Take a look for yourself,"

Grabbing a small mirror off the bed stand, Fangmeyer showed Judas just how badly the riot had taken its toll. The rabbit was relieved to confirm he still had both functioning eyes, despite how hard it was to open them from the thick bruises around them. Dozens of tiny bandages were scattered over the cuts on his face, while one large bandage was wrapped firmly around his torso. The pain medication must've been strong, for he hardly noticed his left arm was locked firmly in a thick cast he was so numb.

"Sweet cheese and crackers," he whispered.

"You can say that again, so much for being a lady killer huh?" Fangmeyer remarked, setting the mirror back down.

Judas chuckled. "Said the tiger who can't score a date with Wolford,"

A small growl could be heard coming from the tiger. "Unlike you, you buck toothed jerk, I haven't been sitting idly by," said the tiger defensively.

Judas raised an eyebrow slowly. "You asked her out? Did she say yes?"

A sly smile grew over the tiger's face, causing the rabbit to chuckle in disbelief.

"About time…" Judas said amusedly.

"Sit tight partner, I'll go grab the doctor," said the tiger.

As the door closed behind the departing tiger, Judas exhaled slowly as he tried to regain some sense of everything that was happening. He didn't have long to wait as a medium sized brown bear with square glasses walked into his room with a clipboard.

"Mr. Hopps, welcome back to the land of the living," the bear greeted. "How are we feeling? Comfortable?"

Judas shifted awkwardly in the bed. "Not the word I'd use Doctor."

The bear laughed. "I'm sure, my name is Dr. Foster and I just need to do a few tests to see where we are with your recovery."

As the doctor performed his examinations, which included touching him with paws that were far too cold for a mammal with thick brown fur, Judas tried to recollect the events that had placed him there in the first place. Through the murkiness of his painkiller clouded mind, the memories of the prison were still fresh, the pale lights, the concrete corridors, the wild mad shouts and screams of the rioting prisoners. But at the end, things began to fade. The walrus had him in a corner, going for the kill, then…what?

"Alright Mr. Hopps, you seem very promising, everything seems to be healing as it should be." said the bear, double-checking the rabbit's heartbeat on the monitor.

"Any… _*cough!* *cough!*_ …scars?" said the spluttering rabbit.

The bear handed him a nearby glass of water before answering. "A few, but nothing too outstanding, the knife wounds weren't too deep fortunately."

"Knife-wounds? Geez, I don't remember those…" Judas said taking a drink.

The bear shook his head. "I'd be surprised if you did, you were in a near critical state when they brought you in. Mr. Hopps, I must admit you have my deepest admiration to face such wild animals so willingly."

The bear chuckled warmly, the rabbit nearly choked on his water.

 _Wild….wild….wild….why does that ring a bell?_

"Well Mr. Hopps, you seem to be in order, I will pay you a visit later this afternoon to see how things are progressing. Take care."

"Doctor," Judas acknowledged.

Now all alone, Judas found himself quickly growing bored within an hour in his medicated prison. Rabbits were naturally active creatures, so the urge to be up and in motion was a strong urge to ignore. Thankfully however, he had a few things on his mind to occupy him. Thinking back to the riot, he had now started to recount his last few waking moments, particularly of a certain orange vixen who strangely seemed to be concerned about him enough to pull him to safety.

 _Her name…..her name…._

 _Oh, sweet carrot sticks, what was her name?_

A sudden commotion coming from the hallway pulled the rabbit out of his thoughts. It sounded as if a nurse somewhere just outside his room was dealing with an irate visitor.

"Sir, please, he's only just woken up, he's very weak."

"This won't take but a few moments, now let me in!"

The visitor's demand was punctuated with a strong paw pounding the door open. A small grin formed on Judas's face as the visitor turned out to be Chief Lionheart. The broad shouldered mammal was wearing a burgundy vest with a white undershirt. A stark contrast to the ZPD uniform policy was always keen on ignoring.

"Ha! There's the mammal of the hour!" the lion cried boisterously.

"Hey Chief," Judas said with a chuckle, leaning up carefully in his bed.

Strolling on over, Lionheart plopped down onto a tiny stool to rest one elbow on the edge of the bed, his large frame towering over the feeble rabbit.

"How we doing cadet?" he asked seriously.

Judas's grin grew, Chief Lionheart was a well known softie when it came to the well being of his officers, having him pay an unexpected hospital visit was not unheard of.

"Battered, but not out of the game sir." Judas replied.

"That's good to hear, how's the chest doing?" he said worriedly, putting a paw on his own torso to emphasize. "The doctors said you could've been a colander from all the punctures."

Judas shifted to the left, then to the right, grimacing with the effort. "Sore, really sore, but nothing permanent the doctor says."

"That's good, very good. Oh! Another thing, this is for you," he exclaimed.

Reaching into his vest pocket, Lionheart presented Judas a polished, gold police badge with his name inscribed on it.

"Thanks Chief," Judas said, taking the clean badge with his one free paw, "At least something made it out without a scratch, unlike me," the rabbit joked.

The lion grimaced. "Not quite cadet."

"Huh?"

"This is a new one," Lionheart explained, placing a single finger on the badge in Judas's paw. "Yours was lost along with most of your gear in the line of duty."

"Oh," Judas said glumly.

Looking down at the unscratched badge in his paw, he couldn't stop the sinking feeling in his heart. Five years on the force, he had never needed to change badges. It had always been the same badge he had received at his graduation, his lifelong dream turned solid, turned real. Something beloved, something he was in need of after….well…

"Hopps," Lionheart began more seriously.

The rabbit's heart dropped further into his stomach. Lionheart rarely ever dropped his confident demeanor, and never without reason.

"…we alerted your family to your injuries…" the lion continued.

Judas gripped the badge tightly, but professionally kept his expression neutral as he looked up at his boss.

"…standard protocol," Lionheart finished with apologetic eyes.

"I know sir, I understand." Judas said evenly.

For several minutes, there was silence.

"When?" asked the rabbit.

"The day of the riot, a week ago now," the lion replied solemnly.

Judas pursed his lips. "Did they ever show?"

The lion sighed. "Sorry cadet."

The rabbit gently shook his head. "Don't be Chief, it's no surprise to me anyway."

There was more silence, the awkwardness between the two mammals was steadily growing to the point it could be cut with an axe.

"What's the situation with the prison?" Judas asked coolly.

Lionheart smiled proudly, it never took long for Officer Hopps to focus back on the important matters at paw.

"The situation, is for you get some more rest and listen to whatever the doctors tell you." Lionheart said.

The rabbit scoffed. "Oh come on! Seriously?! Chief, the place was a madhouse! It put me in critical care!"

"Relax cadet, despite the circumstances we were able to bring the situation under control…"

"What happened afterwards? Did any prisoners escape? Were any other officers injured?!"

"Hopps…"

"How did the riot happen in the first place? Did we get any…"

" _Hopps!_ "

The rabbit quickly fell silent with a wince. The lion's shout was easily loud enough to be heard three floors up.

"Everything is being handled cadet; there were no fatalities for any party involved. In a weird sense, I'm happy to say you were the one who was most injured, no offense of course."

Judas sighed with relief. "None taken Chief, I'm glad to hear that actually."

"Now, unless the doctors decide you need more time, I'm putting on medical leave for a month…."

"A month?!" the rabbit yelled.

The lion gave his officer a firm stare, leaving Judas to grumble under his breath. "Yes sir," he said calmly.

The lion tapped the side of the bed twice as he rose to his feet. "Excellent, rest up cadet, I want my star officer combat ready with no strings attached as soon as possible."

"Talk to you later Chief,"

As the lion was walking away, a light bulb suddenly flashed to life in Judas's mind.

"Sir?"

Lionheart paused halfway out the door. "Yes Hopps?"

Judas hesitated for a brief moment, swallowing once to clear his throat before nervously speaking.

"At the scene, the fox who pulled me to safety, who was she?"

The lion raised an eyebrow. "Fox?"

"Yes, a vixen, the one who patched me up, what was her name? I…I think she told me what it was, but now it's all foggy…" Judas said, rubbing his forehead.

Eyebrows furrowing, Lionheart stepped back into the room. "You ok cadet? You've been unconscious for seven days, you could've been hallucinating things."

Judas gave the Chief a look that bordered on offense. "Hallucinating? What are you saying Chief?"

"Hopps, there was no vixen." Lionheart said firmly.

Judas blinked, his eyes growing wide. "What? Yes there was Chief, she carried me to safety, she treated me, probably saved my life doing so!" he argued.

Raising both paws to try and placate the frantic lagomorph, Lionheart tried to explain.

"Cadet, I know this may sound confusing, but we combed through every inch of security tape in the facility, there was no…"

"At the prison, there was a walrus, real ugly bastard too. Do you know him?" Judas asked pointedly.

Lionheart's eyes narrowed impatiently as he placed his paws on his hips. "Yes cadet, I know who you're talking about, I'm the one who put that walrus away seventeen years ago."

"Sir, he _had_ me. I was already badly beaten when he grabbed me…"

"Hopps, I know what happened, I watched the footage…"

"He threw me against a bullet resistant window as thick as my head…"

"Hopps…"

"Chief, all I know is that walrus came incredibly close to murdering an officer that day…"

The Chief fell quiet.

"…and I know for fact I wasn't the one who stopped him." Judas finished. "So who did?"

A tiny growl could be heard as the lion pondered the rabbit's words, his tail swishing back and forth with slow movements. The Chief's continued silence began to eat away at the rabbit's confidence.

"And this, _vixen_ saved you?" the lion asked doubtfully.

"You don't believe me , do you?" the rabbit said dejectedly.

The lion gave a sigh and fixed his officer a tired look. "I'll have the detectives go over everything to see if we can track down this mystery fox…"

Judas smiled. "Thanks Chief,"

"But only if you can guarantee me you'll stay away from the Precinct for the next month. Do we have a deal?"

"Sir, ye-AH!"

Lionheart chuckled at the rabbit's attempt to give him a salute which didn't end well, his arm immediately erupting in pain. As soon as the lion had disappeared, Judas lowered himself back into his bed to sulk. One month of medical leave, excellent, just how he wanted to spend to his time.

But in spite of that, he did begin to worry. He knew he was saved by that green-eye vixen, whoever she was. Her face was but a blur in his head, but he knew what he saw.

 _Who was she? How could they not see her on the tapes?_

For the third time that day, his inner brainstorming was halted by an unexpected intruder. Walking into the room, fuming fit to burst, was a plump reindeer nurse in pink scrubs whose cheeks were as red as a fire truck.

"Of all the insolent, arrogant, condescending….and a law official of all mammals!" she screeched loudly to herself.

"Oh dear, I'm assuming you just met my boss Chief Lionheart?" Judas asked innocently.

"Unfortunately," she groused, her fur absolutely bristling.

"Which means, he asked you to dinner and gave you his number?" Judas asked cheekily.

The nurse harrumphed loudly as she began to change out the rabbit's IV bags, her scowl increasing in intensity.

"But you didn't say no?" Judas asked further, his smirk increasing.

The hefty reindeer nurse said nothing, but her blush began to deepen.

============================================================================

For a long time, nothing had happened in this place. Everything was silent, dark, and buried under a thick layer of dust. Suddenly, there was a loud creak and a groan, followed by a single beam of light as the tall hangar doors began to open. Pushing with all her might against the door was an orange furred fox draped in a yellow blouse with silver flowers, grasped in one paw was a thick, rolled up piece of paper. As soon as the door was open far enough to allow entry, the fox slipped in and walked a few paces into the dark warehouse, nose sniffing the air thoroughly.

"This is it!" she called out behind her.

Two paws grasped the door and forced it open a little more. As the door opened further, a loud gasp of wonder was heard as the cheetah's mouth fell open in wonder.

"Wow, look at this place!" she exclaimed. "How'd you find it Nicole?"

The fox walked over to a large wooden crate and blew some of the dust off, trying to read the fine print on an identity label.

"Couple of friends of mine clued me into this place, they said it's been abandoned for decades."

A bored voice soon spoke up. "I'll say, this place was probably a garbage heap when it was new," said a bulky honey badger.

Nicole huffed in annoyance but kept a straight face. "Honey, would you be a dear and start bringing in the boxes from the van? I think we'll settle her for now."

The muscular honey badger made a face but obeyed and hurriedly disappeared back outside.

"I'll go see if he needs some help," Clawhauser said quickly.

The chubby, female cheetah soon scampered off to chase down the honey badger. In her place, a small fennec fox appeared in the doorway wearing a large pair of sunglasses. He took one look around the interior, sniffed unimpressively, and drew up behind the vixen.

"Yes Finny?" Nicole asked without looking.

"Don't call me Fin," snapped the smaller fox.

"Something the matter?" she asked innocently.

"Yeah, whut are we doin in this dump?" he asked rudely.

The vixen bopped the small fox on the head playfully with the rolled up paper.

"This…is our next project," said the vixen eagerly, gesturing all around her. "This is the start of what we've always planned for Finnick, the big score!"

To the vixen's obvious annoyance, her small partner gave no effort to conceal his groan.

"Which is what you said about the _last_ one," Finnick moaned.

Nicole lifted her nose in offense. "I'll admit, our recent business ventures have been lacking recently, but!"

Finnick yelped with surprise as Nicole scooped him up in her arms and began twirling about.

"Picture it Fin! Mammals of all species coming to our show, each one loaded with pockets full of cash! All we have to do is give them a place, and a little incentive to spend it," she exclaimed happily.

"And you believe this will work this time, why?" the fennec asked skeptically.

"Because Finnick, I'm brilliant. I've got all the niggly little details worked out," she said smiling, waving the piece of paper about. "It's practically airtight!"

"Whatever, I'm going back to the van where it's actually air conditioned," he said jumping down to the ground and beginning to walk back to the entrance.

The fennec didn't get very far as he was suddenly pulled from behind by his collar.

"Where do you think you're going mister?" Nicole asked, "Or do you not know what low profile means?"

"You expect me to stay cooped up in this pigsty?" he asked angrily.

"Do I expect that?" she asked sarcastically, smirking widely. "Yes, yes I do."

Shaking out of the vixen's grasp, the fennec reluctantly disappeared into the shadows further into the warehouse.

"While you're grumbling to yourself, try to find the main breakers and see if they work! We need some light if we're going to get anything done in here."

"Get stuffed!" was the loud reply.

Nicole simply chuckled as she looked all around her surroundings. Even in the near total darkness, she could easily make out the vast, towering stacks of wooden crates covered in old tarps. Many of them big enough to pack away an entire city bus no less.

She began to smile happily to herself, for once things were starting to look promising. No more debts, no more conditions, everything was on her terms, and she would be free to rake in the benefits. And no one would stand in her way his time….

 _Except for the ZPD of course…._

Nicole's smile fell. It was more than obvious to her friends her new little scheme was skating across the edge of the law by a thread, if they had any hope of succeeding with their new game, they would have to remain three steps ahead of the mammals in blue. Especially little rabbit officers who always seem to…  
 ** _  
FWISH!_**

"AARGGH! FINNICK!" Nicole screamed, eyes stinging as the overhead lights flared to life.

"My bad!" came the non-apologetic reply.

Furiously rubbing the spots out of her eyes, Nicole hardly noticed as Clawhauser drew close and placed a worried paw on the fox's shoulder.

"Nicole, you okay?" Clawhauser asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah I'm fine, just blind…" she moaned.

"Where do you want this crap?" Honey asked rudely.

"Just, just somewhere over there!" Nicole shouted, waving blindly with a paw.

"Don't have to be rude," said the badger lamely, dropping cardboard box down onto the ground.

As the vixen slowly regained her sense of vision, Finnick quickly rejoined the small group before all three mammals were quickly ushered over by Nicole.

"Gather around everyone, for I have something to show you," she declared.

Stepping over to a nearby crate, Nicole unrolled the piece of paper in her paws and laid it out for all to see earning a few curious stares from Finnick and Honey and an eager giggle from Clawhauser.

"This…is step one,"

 **A/N: For some reason, Nick Wilde is a natural to write for, but Nicole Wilde is really stumping me. No idea.** **Writing this late at night probably doesn't help either.**


End file.
